Zero results search page – alternative content
I'm working on a redesign of zero results page and I was just wondering what content I should display, and in which order. The site I'm working on sells courses, both online and classroom-based, across the UK. A large percentage of our traffic comes from Google.
A common search term is: [subject] course in [location]
The problem is that this sometimes leads to zero result search pages. If a user lands on zero results page after searching for a course in a certain location, then we provide a location search box to allow them to search for that course in a different location. We also display the closet results to the searched location, however, these courses can sometimes be up to 200 miles away.
I've also thought about surfacing online courses as an alternative to location-based classroom courses.
My question is which results should I show at the top of the page? The classroom-based courses which potentially could be up to 200 miles away from the original search location, or online courses, which aren't necessarily what the user is looking for, especially if they want a classroom course.